ALL HANDS TO THE FACE
Manchester United 1 West Ham 1
I remember returning from the excellent 2-0 victory over Manchester United back in September, and sitting on the sofa watching it back on television the way I always like to when we’ve won well at home. On this occasion, though, I was confused to find the last hour of the programme was spent deconstructing Manchester United’s performance. Apart from a laconic interview with Pellegrini and Hammers’ second goal scorer Aaron Cresswell, West Ham were barely mentioned. Confused.com? You’d have thought this kind of negative approach to football would make for bad TV. So why did they do it? Is this Alex Ferguson’s fault for building an invincible team that no manager following him at Old Trafford could ever emulate? Infuriating TV for the opposition, unless it’s City or Liverpool.
Tonight, Hammers face a United side that were humiliated at the weekend by Chelsea in the semi-final of the FA Cup, bedevilled by the inconsistency of old ‘popadom hand’ himself, David de Gea. I’m quietly confident that we will pick up a point here this evening and have been telling it all day to anyone who’ll listen. Yet the first ten minutes are a disaster, as Manchester United hit their stride almost ahead of the game, Hammers struggling to settle, compose and keep their shape. But of course I’m forgetting the fact that mere possession translates to very little in the greater scheme of footballing things. As you might have told any of Leicester City’s main rivals in that unrivalled 2015-16 season.
After Mason Greenwood and Martial have brought the best out of Fabianski, West Ham begin to settle. Man U are struggling to get the ball out of their own area, let alone their half of play. Johnson is having an excellent game at right back, coming in for the injured Ryan Fredericks. Jeremy Ngakia, he of five Hammers’ appearances, is now a free agent. Who will sign him? Could well be a musical next year if no one actually does. Let’s hope he can dance.
Rashford finds Fernandes with an exquisite through ball, but the United striker fails to control it and the chance is gone. Fornals is showing some neat one touches, and Noble is clearly enjoying his 501st game in a West Ham shirt, looking for six more appearances to eclipse the club record of Steve Potts. United have now become the team looking to hit their opponents on the break as West Ham begin to enjoy some extended periods of possession. Antonio and Rice are at the centre of things generally, as it begins to feel like 2019/20 has actually been a managerial transition period masquerading as a relegation season. I’m feeling right about my prediction again.
Hammers get a corner on the half hour after some promising build up play. They are scoring from corners these days, and Ogbonna beats Maguire in the air but can’t get his header on target. For all their huffing and puffing though, there seems to be no way through for the Red Devilled Kidneys. And now, on the edge of half time, it becomes clear that West Ham are about to score. First Antonio bursts through after Rice has found Johnson, but Lindelhof takes the ball off his toes with a low header back to de Gea. Then a VAR moment for West Ham as Pogba unaccountably decides to defend Cresswell and Noble’s free kick, which Rice blasts at him, with his elbows. Gary Neville has picked it – ‘It’s rubbish from him – embarrassing’ – we all love Neville. The absolute best it gets on TV coverage. Who would have guessed that, watching him play? And Scott Minto fluent in Spanish, FFS? Next you’ll be telling me we’re in the middle of a Pandemic. So why is Antonio taking the pen and not Noble? Is he after double figures for the season, because that’s what he’ll have. Either way I know he won’t miss. Cool as you like, he slides the ball in to de Gea’s left with the keeper moving right, and this is the kind of half time team talk that Moyes must have dreamed of having the chance to deliver.
Before the second half starts, the director has Antonio in full face shot before dropping the depth of field to reveal a hunted look from Pogba fifteen yards behind him. Apolcalypse Now quality camerawork that few will have noticed, but I saw it. Utterly magnificent. They’re still discussing the penalty incident. Maybe Noble let Antonio have it for the three he’s had disallowed thanks to that particular VAR ‘innovation.’ Ogbonna gives away a free kick just inside the West Ham half with what looks like a meagre challenge on Martial, but it gives United a lift, and Greenwood and Martial exchange two swift one-twos that clear Greenwood to score with a low shot past Fabianski. Against the run of play? You bet it was.
Just five minutes into the second half, but still I’m not bothered, and luckily I’m right not to be. Within a few minutes Jarrod Bowen is beautifully set up on the right by Noble, and he hits a great first time shot that de Gea does well to tip over. Then Rice almost emulates his goal against Watford from last Friday with a beauty that de Gea salutes past him and just marginally wide of his left hand post.
On 70 minutes even Rashford falls foul and fouls Bowen, getting his yellow calling card for making a mark on our most marked of new players. No more hero. Tonight the side Bowen scored 17 goals for before Christmas, Hull City, are heading down to League Division One, whereas Bowen is heading on to his first full season in the Premier League. They loved him at Hull, and West Ham fans are learning to love him too. What if he’d scored that late chance at Liverpool to make it 3-3? Sometimes it’s the almost made it moments that stay in the memory more than the goals.
Matić is booked for a shirt pull on Bowen and the virtual crowd boo. That is surreal. And a bad place to give away a free kick. Noble whips it in but Antonio, just six yards out, can only head it over.
The moment I’m waiting for is the Haller substitution, this one in the magical 76th minute, to see how close he can get to making it three great chances with his first touch of the game. Maybe he’ll put one away tonight. I’m just reading that United identified him as a potential replacement for Romelu Lukaku in June 2019. For all the allure of this first touch nonsense I harbour, Noble’s free kick hits Haller on the knee and runs away to be eventually cleared.
Still, this doesn’t look like a team that will be worrying about relegation next season, and if they can beat Aston Villa on Sunday that will mark a pretty reasonable set of BCD games with four victories and just three defeats in nine games.
1 Lucasz Fabianski, 3 Aaron Cresswell, 23 Issa Diop, 21 Angelo Ogbonna, 53 Ben Johnson, 41 Declan Rice, 16 Mark Noble (captain), 28 Tomas Soucek, 17 Jarrod Bowen, 18 Pablo Fornals, 30 Michail Antonio
Substitutes: 22 Sébastien Haller, 26 Arthur Masuaku, 7 Andriy Yarmolenko
Scorer: 30 Michail Antonio
